The Citadel of Chaos (book)
:For other uses of '''The Citadel of Chaos', see'' The Citadel of Chaos (disambiguation) The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the second in the series in both the Puffin (ISBN 0-14-031603-5) and Wizard (ISBN 1-84046-389-9) series. Creation History The book is, like its predecessor The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, set in the fictional world of Titan in the Allansia region. The Evil warlord Balthus Dire who has ruled from his Black Tower high upon Craggen Rock for the past eight years is now agitating to expand his sphere of influence, beginning with the nearby Vale of Willow. Word is sent to the Great Forest of Yore and the wizard who lives there of the problem and the player, the star pupil of this wizard is dispatched to the Vale where King Salamon charges the player with penetrating the forbidding citadel and defeating Dire. Along the way the player is forced to use both sword and magic to overcome a number of obstacles including the Ganjees and a Hydra. How to Fight Creatures Within the Citadel / Using Magic/Magic Spells/Equipment The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *In addition to the standard rules, The Citadel of Chaos makes use of a new attribute: magic. This was a simple 2d6 roll with the addition of 6 to the number rolled which determined the "number" of spells the reader begins with. The spells were chosen from a pool of twelve spells, which were: Creature Copy, E.S.P., Fire, Fool's Gold, Illusion, Levitation, luck, Shielding, skill, stamina, Strength, and Weakness. *Due to the ability to use spells to restore the values of the three standard attributes, the player does not begin this adventure with either Provisions or Potions. Equipment List *Sword *Leather Armour *Backpack *Lantern Cover and Illustrations '''Covers During the time that Puffin was publishing the Fighting Fantasy books, The Citadel of Chaos had two covers. The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Emmanuel which was eventually replaced by one by Ian Miller. Of note, when the book transitioned to the Dragon Cover Format the style of writing for the title changed, but only on the cover. On the inside title page the type style remained that of the earlier printings. When the book was republished by Wizard a new cover was designed and illustrated by Kevin Jenkins. #Price of 1st~2nd Impressions; £1.50 for 5th~11th Impressions #Price of 16th Impression. Oddly it is £1.75 for the 15th Impression #Price of 17th Impression #Price of 26th Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Russ Nicholson. There were 30 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 13, 25, 40, 52, 64, 79, 90, 118, 144, 156, 169, 182, 196, 210, 222, 234, 245, 257, 269, 281, 292, 304, 316, 328, 339, 352, 362, 374 and 386. The full-page illustrations in the book were accompanied with a caption giving the number of the paragraph depicted and a short extract from the text, a format which was only used in two other books, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and The Forest of Doom. Intertextual References The main villain of the book, Balthus Dire, also appeared in the novel The Trolltooth Wars by Steve Jackson and the character is a contemporary of Zagor (from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and Zharradan Marr (from Creature of Havoc). Other Media Videogame versions of the book were released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. Main Characters YOU: Hero of The Citadel of Chaos *Balthus Dire *Gark - Gark *Grand Wizard of Yore *King Salamon *O'Seamus - Leprechaun Locations *Black Tower aka Citadel of Chaos *Citadel Kitchens *Craggen Rock *Great Forest of Yore *Vale of Willow Encounters *Ape-Dog *Balthus Dire *Black Elf *Calacorm *Clawbeast *Dog-Ape *Dwarf *Gargoyle *Gark - Gark *Goblin *Golem *Hydra *Humans - Short/Tall *Orc *Rhino-Man *Sewer Snake *Spider-Man *Wheelies Further Notes *19 instant failures, 1 victory, plus failure by inadequate inventory, insufficient spells or loss of stamina points. *This gamebook has been deemed by many fans to be one of the few Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, if not the only one, that offers a fair chance of completing the book with the weakest possible character (skill 7, stamina 14, luck 7, magic 8). This fits well with Steve Jackson's statement in the rules that no matter how weak a player's initial dice rolls are, so long as he or she made the right choices, should be able to made it through the game with a bit of luck. *In many ways The Citadel of Chaos was similar to the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with a similar goal and setting. However The Citadel of Chaos removed the key-collecting mechanism of the previous book and expanded the rules with the inclusion of a magic system. *Balthus Dire must be completed by a long and strategic spell battle at the end of the book - this took Steve Jackson many hours to plan out. In fact Steve named Balthus Dire his favourite Fighting Fantasy character. *In a minor error, if you leave the library in paragraph 18 to approach the dining area of paragraph 31, it says you come from the game room. Dedication For Ken, Lilian and Vicki See Also *''Appointment with F.E.A.R.'' *''Creature of Havoc'' *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game'' *''House of Hell'' *''Sorcery!'' *''Starship Traveller'' *''The House of Hell'' (Mini-FF) *''The Riddling Reaver'' *''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' External Links *Character Sheet *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=38 The Citadel of Chaos at Gamebooks.org] *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb2.htm The Citadel of Chaos at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com] *[http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff2.htm The Citadel of Chaos at the official Fightingfantasy.com] *[http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-389-9 The Citadel of Chaos at Wizard Books] References *''White Dwarf'' (#42, June 1983), "Open Box" (p16-17) Category:1983 books Category:FF02 Entries Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series